Mr McClure

Glasgow School of Art Archives

Andrew Maclure and Archibald Gray MacDonald set up business as engravers and lithographic printers in 1835. Their first premises were in Trongate but by 1851 they had moved to 57 Buchanan Street, and later relocated to a 5-storey purpose-built facility in Bothwell Street. The firm also opened offices in Liverpool (1840), London (1845) and Manchester (1886). In 1851 Maclure, MacDonald & Co imported a Sigl machine from Germany which was capable of printing 600 sheets an hour and the firm is believed to be the first in the UK to use steam power for lithographic printing. Maclure, MacDonald & Co survived until 1992 when its assets were acquired by J R Reid Printers of Blantyre.

Duncan Brown (1819-1897) was a talented amateur photographer whose work documents aspects of Glasgow life from the 1850s until the 1890s. This photograph was probably taken in 1856 when Brown had set up a studio in his house at the School of Art and was establishing his reputation as a photographer.